London 2012 Comes to a Close, and NBC Fails Yet Again

The London 2012 Olympics come to a close this evening, and all I will really walk away from the games this year is the dread of NBC continuing to cover this event.

At the close of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, I went on at length about my dislike for NBC and the way it covers this event. Four years later, and a Winter Olympics in there as well, and my opinion hasn’t changed one iota. NBC is a complete joke.

From the opening night of these games where NBC cut a tribute to the victims of terror, to the insipid social media reports of Ryan Seacrest, I have not enjoyed one moment of this network’s coverage of these games. The range covered from being insulting to the athletes, to acting like the audience is made up of nothing but dolts, I’m not sure if there is anyone that could walk away from this year without feeling offended in some way. And, joy of joys, it holds the broadcast rights to Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016. Expect more stupidity, insults and attitude in the years toc ome.

Sadly, these games scored huge ratings numbers for NBC, which means that it will see absolutely no reason to change its ways. Never mind people were tuning in to see things like Michael Phelps become the most decorated Olympian in history, or Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh go for their third consecutive gold in beach volleyball, nope, NBC will see this as a victory. We must have loved it cut the tribute to victims! We must have loved Ryan Seacrest reading tweets! And playing The Benny Hill Show theme song (Yakkity Sax) over videos of people who train for years in race walking? Pure genius, and see how it brought in more viewers?

NBC is an embarrassment at this point, but thanks to the bidding for exclusivity rights, it has paid enough to torment us for several more years. Sadly, if you want to enjoy the Olympic sports, as well you should, you’re stuck with the peacock network.

Is it really too much to ask them to act like intelligent humans and not insult the audience and athletes again and again?

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I could not agree more. This is why I was so happy to find sites like unblock-us to watch the Olympics through the BBC. It is pathetic what NBC has done to the Olympics these past years. I really hope something changes in the near future. I have enjoyed the Olympics since I was very young and it such a shame that in order to enjoy them now I have to watch from a network outside of the US.